The Nara Creed
by LockDown
Summary: What if you looked underneath the underneath of the underneath? You might be surprised at what you find. Maybe that's why no one looks that deeply. A look at one family creed and how it shaped them.
1. Chapter 1

"I am a shadow. If there is light, I am there. If there is no light, I am there. I am always there.

I strike like the shadows; quickly and silently. I leave no trace of my presence, only my calling card; the target.

I am loyal like the shadows; constant. I am loyal to my clan first, the ryu second, and the Hokage third."

Nara Family Creed

Line 3

All eyes were on my father. Watching, waiting for him to act. The entire ceremony had ground to a halt. If I hadn't known what was going to happen, I would have been so embarrassed. If I could have mustered up the energy to be embarrassed that is. Of course, everyone gathered how were old enough to either remember or attend the last coronation of a Hokage would have known what was going to happen. Thankfully, none of those in my age group had been there. I can only imagine what they would think of my clan if they knew.

My dad, Shikaku, just shot a lazy glance around the room before locking eyes with me for a moment. With a nod he signaled that I would have this honor. Prior to the ceremony he had told me that he had already done it twice as clan head. Now that his son was old enough, he would sit this one out. Plus the new Hokage was of my generation for dad felt it was fitting.

Taking the cue from my father I stepped in front of the dais on top of which Naruto sat, looking very uncomfortable with all the pomp and ceremony. I didn't blame him but in a moment I know I was going to utterly destroy his opinion of me. He wouldn't be bored then. Nor would everyone else in attendance.

The Rookie 9 as we were known as, except for the Uchiha traitor of course, was there. Neji and Ten Ten Hyuga, Rock Lee and Sakura, Ino and Choji, Shino and Kiba. Hinata got a spot up on the dais as she was engaged to Naruto. My own fiancée was here, as well as her brothers.

The Kazekage of Suna had come to see his friend become a Kage. Kankuro was there because Gaara and Temari told him to be. And Temari was there because I asked her to be. Mostly to answer a question.

The major stumbling block of our relationship was her concern that she would have to choose between her loyalties to Suna and her brother with me. I told her it wouldn't be a problem but could never tell her just how that could be. Largely because she wasn't a Nara yet. However, Naruto becoming Hokage gave me the perfect chance to explain things to her since it would be out in the open with father's permission.

"Shikamaru."

I glanced at Ino who was looking extremely embarrassed on my behalf.

"You're holding things up. Hurry up and swear loyalty to the Hokage." Ino whispered. Of course, with how quiet the place was everyone could hear her.

I just raised an eyebrow at her before turning my attention to the my dad.

"Third line?" I asked to make sure I was saying the right thing. The Naras had a special tradition of their own at Hokage coronations. My dad just nodded.

"I speak for the Nara Clan when I say this; 'I am loyal like the shadows; constant. I am loyal to my clan first, the ryu second, and the Hokage third.'"

The silence before had been one of embarrassed anticipation. Now it was of utter shock and disbelief. Poor Naruto's jaw was literally hanging open. Friends and loyalty were big in his book and we were friends. My peers looked at me like I was crazy.

I wasn't crazy and nor were my ancestors. What most of the town never saw they got a glimpse of tonight. The underneath of the underneath of the underneath. Most of them stop looking after the second underneath. The Naras operated on a whole other level. We alone did real ninja work.

The Naras are a clan of assassins. We do some intel gather work as well but our main focus is on killing people. Personally I prefer them to be asleep. It's a lot less work that way. Really, if you think about it, stealth and shadows go hand in hand. And given our affinity for getting around without being seen or detected my family has done very well in the hitman business. So well in fact that we can do what I just did. Not swear fealty to the Hokage.

Now the reason I can do that, and my father had done that to the previous Hokage's, is because it is actually in the original charter of the village. When all the founding clans came together my ancestors put that clause in for the Naras. Since they slipped that clause in my clan is not listed amongst the names of the founding clans of the village. I really don't mind. Like I said, us Naras are the only real ninjas in town.

We kill people secretly. We don't try to cloud the issue with things like honor and open combat like some of the other clans insist upon. And we do it for money. Yes I've done jobs against Leaf targets. Assassinations and spying.

So we're not entirely heartless. Plus we raise deer. Cute deer too. And do a lot a research in medicine. It's our way of balancing the family karma.

"You can't say that. Take that back before the Hokage has you arrested for treason." Neji chastised. Damn, I owe dad a bottle of sake now. He bet that a Hyuga would be the first to object. They like that everyone thinks of them as the most important clan in town. And they let it go to their heads.

"Neji, as a friend I have to say go read the village charter more closely." Sadly, the clause in which my family is in is clearly started there and required reading in the academy.

"As a Nara to a Hyuga; remember your place."

"Shikamaru, what has gotten into you?!"

"Ah, the Hokage finally speaks. Remember, you wear those robes only so long as you are useful to the Nara clan."

That did it. Now everyone of the young adults are looking to their parents for some kind of guidance and find none. This is all about us youngsters. More specifically, the Nara heir, me, and all the other heirs, everyone of my age group.

The second part of the Nara tradition is establishing that the Nara clan's rights to the upcoming generation. I can see why dad didn't want to do it again. It's a little discomforting to have to shatter everyone's perception of you.

"Shikamaru, what are you saying?"

This time it was Ino that managed to gather herself enough to speak.

"I'm just doing my duty to remind the new Hokage of one of the Nara's rights."

"The right to commit kagecide?" Sakura asked.

"And regicide in the case of the daimyo as well." Man I'm itching for a smoke right now but Temari is right there and she's making me quit. It was part of the bargain to just to get her to agree to be engaged.

"How can that possibly be in your clan's rights?" Rock Lee spoke up.

"Because it is and always has been. It's not like it hasn't helped out all of your guys too. The daimyo hasn't cut funding to the village in three generations." I took a shot at placating my friends. I doubt they really cared that just the threat of annoying the Nara clan has kept the village very well funded. The best funded of all the hidden villages in fact.

"Father, is this all true?" Hinata asked her dad who just nodded.

"That's not to say that the Nara clan won't still continue to work with the rest of the village. I'm just reminding everyone that our allegiance is not to the Hokage first."

With that I gave up the floor and walked outside. As I expected my lovely Temari joined me soon after.

"Is that what you meant when you said I would never have to choose between loyalties?"

"Yes. Mom loves you. More then she does me I think, but the point is she'll never permit me or dad to go marching off to war against Suna if that ever happened. And when I'm clan head, you'd be my wife and there we wouldn't have to partake in any missions against Suna if they ever came. That and I happen to know that your brother and Naruto have been planning on an official announcement tomorrow allying the two villages. Permanently."

"How do you know that?"

"Honey, you have to let me keep a few secrets to myself or else I can't surprise you anymore."

"Like today?"

"Like today. And speaking surprises, I've got a few more planned for you if you'll come back to my place."

Temari just takes my hand and leads the way to my place.

A/N: I'm back! With another terrible bit of ff for you all. The basic idea is to show a darker side of the ninja world we all love. By darker I mean more insane.

So you get the creed and will get a couple more drabbles about each line. I was going to do the lines in order but really, the third line sets up the scene the best so that's what I wrote first. I might even add in Temari's thoughts on each line too.


	2. Chapter 2

"I am a shadow. If there is light, I am there. If there is no light, I am there. I am always there.

I strike like the shadows; quickly and silently. I leave no trace of my presence, only my calling card; the target.

I am loyal like the shadows; constant. I am loyal to my clan first, the ryu second, and the Hokage third."

Nara Family Creed

-Marrying into the Creed

This would be entertaining. Yoshino, my mother-in-law had come up to me before the ceremony and told me that this was my last chance to walk away. That was something I would have expected from Kankuro, maybe even Matsuri but not Yoshino. She loved me and I her. I was the daughter she never had and she was the mother I never had.

Now it was the reception and Yoshino had managed to corner me in an empty room. Her face looked torn between being happy while her eyes looked sad.

"Oh it's all over now daughter. You're a Nara forever now." If I hadn't heard it myself I wouldn't have believed that someone could go from sounding happy to overly serious in just a handful of words.

"I know mom. I did just married to your lazy son after all."

"No you married into the clan. You just get to keep Shika out of too much trouble." With that Yoshino sat me down and gave me a compact 5 minutes speech before we had to go back out to the reception. If you ever want to ruin someone's wedding reception you can follow the lovely Nara tradition.

Here's how it goes. The ladies get to be the bearers of bad news to the ladies and the men to the men. The ladies' version goes something like this.

Job number one. Have one kid. Minimum. Preferably more since Yoshino wanted grandchild_ren_. As in more than one. Seriously. She told me it was my duty to the clan as the heir's wife to produce another heir. So no pressure on me or my ninja trained body. I mean it's not like I have a regular cycle or anything because of all the stress on my body. Just look at the first line of creed. To always be here, the Nara's need to keep surviving another generation.

Given how small the clan is, I was graciously told I was exempt from the second line of the creed. I tried to argue but Yoshino gave me a look that I'm sure only a mother can muster up. A look of complete authority and cows utter obedience into any child no matter their age. I really have to learn how to do that.

Secondly, everything revolved around the clan. This is both a good and bad thing. Good because now I see why the Nara's are so family oriented. The three of them are the entire clan so it's easy to keep everyone's interests in mind. Well four of us now. Bad because I had to listen to Shikaku and Yoshino and Lazy. I could live with this. I mean I grew up as one Kazekage's daughter and the sister of the current one so I understand how clan is important.

And it's not like I didn't know that before I married Lazy. I mean the biggest worry I had was having divided loyalties between my brothers and my love. I am the ambassador between Sand and Leaf so I know how bad things were before Naruto became Hokage. Learning about the third line of the Nara family creed was interesting to say the least. However it meant I just had to be loyal to Shikamaru, something I really don't think will be an issue. Sure he's lazy and can be unmotivated but he's really smart and has a great ass.

The one thing I didn't realize about marrying Lazy was when I said "until death do us part," that was the only way I could end our union. Yoshino was kind enough to tell me that divorce is not an option for anyone marrying into the family. Mostly because I was going to be privy to a lot of juicy family secrets since Yoshino didn't have any daughters to pass down her knowledge to. That and the dealings of the Naras apparently are like their jutsus; shady.

Now the plus side to that is that the Naras are well off. I mean really well off. Spying pays well. Something I know since that what I did part time as Ambassador. Assassination also pays well. It pays even better when people want to be certain no one will find out that friends are plotting against each other.

Now take all that and the fact that the Naras haven't been bigger than three people in three generations (it's a miracle the clan didn't die off with Shikaku or Lazy) until I married Lazy. Such small family size with their income over a lot of years equals a checkbook so large I actually fainted when Yoshino introduced me to the family finances.

Keep in mind I grew up rich but I might as well have been living in the streets compared to how much the Naras have. Not that they show it off at all. Meager living helps keeps Lazy grounded it seems. I'll have to keep that in mind for handling Lazy. After recovering she did take me on a shopping spree to get all kinds of new things for Lazy and mine wing of the house. I think I can manage being a Nara.

A/N: It's short as you can all tell. This really wasn't thought out at all and done when my mind was really wandering. The other parts are more thought out I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

Line 2

"I am a shadow. If there is light, I am there. If there is no light, I am there. I am always there.

I strike like the shadows; quickly and silently. I leave no trace of my presence, only my calling card; the target.

I am loyal like the shadows; constant. I am loyal to my clan first, the ryu second, and the Hokage third."

Nara Family Creed

As a shadow user, it only makes too much sense not to be seen. Stealth has always been a big part of the family fighting style for a number of reasons. One it just makes sense as a ninja, and two, our jutsu practically demands we strike from the shadows unseen. Thirdly, it makes the killing part so much easier when people don't see it coming.

Oh yes, we Nara's kill people in secret. Sort of. The actual killing is secret and we never leave any evidence behind it was us but it like a public secret. Everyone in town knows that we will kill for a price. That's what a clan built around assassination does after all.

And we kill anyone, in any country, for any reason so long as the money is good. We do reserve the right to refuse a job, and on very rare occasion either dad or myself has turned down a job because we didn't think it was good for the clan. On those rare occasions we either left the job uncompleted or we find the middleman that brought us the job and torture him into giving us the patron's information and we go kill the patron. We've only done that once and that was because someone had put a hit out on Gaara.

I was only engaged to Temari at the time and she nor Gaara found out until after the wedding, but at the time it really wouldn't have made for a great start to a marriage if mom had to tell Temari that we had let Gaara get assassinated.

Political assassinations are really our bread and butter. Every politician wants all the other ones dead or to find out some dirt on them and they tend to have a lot of money and can pay the high fees we ask in return for our services.

And we do demand some high fees. Just to spy on a politician is a cool $100,000. Assassination starts at $250,000 and works its way up depending on how important the guy is and how soon they want the job done. Our most expensive job for hire though is infanticide. That's right, we kill babies for money. It's a dark family tradition but it costs $500,000. The high price tag makes it an extremely rare choir but it's always been a Nara's first kill.

I was just 11 when I got my first job. I had to wipe out a small branch of a family over in Mist country; dad, mom, and kid. Dad travelled with me to the site and gave me instructions. He even helped scout the house and plan the strike.

It was 2:14 in the morning when I killed the kid. 2:17 when I killed the mother. 2:35 when the dad finally died. There was blood everywhere, the neighbors had been woken up from the sounds of the fighting, and I had safely learned a valuable lesson.

I learned why you strike quietly. The baby had heard me and cried alerting its parents. On a much tougher job that could have cost me my life. I learned why you strike quickly. There could be more than one target and you have to be quick to get them all or else it becomes a drawn out fight. Not professional nor in our favor as shadow users. Dad helped me cover up the traces of me being in that house. We can't have word of my sloppy first job get out or it could be bad for business.

Don't think I learned all of that instantly. I mean I'm smart but I was also as traumatized as you can get. I wouldn't get a full night's sleep again until I started seriously dating Temari, years later, because of the nightmares. Naps were how I survived up until Temari took the nightmares away.

So why am I on another infanticide job and doing it for free? As a favor to a friend; yes. For personal redemption; most definitely.

It's a boring job really, waiting for the right moment. Sitting physically inside the shadows takes up chakra, all the while waiting for something to tell you that now is that right moment. I could be napping or better yet actually sleeping in my own bed next to my wife. Instead I'm in a nursery, in the top corner of the room watching a baby sleep.

I heard the moment before anything else. This guy was must have thought just because he slipped passed the ANBU protection detail it was clear sailing from there. Too bad he never counted on a counter assassin being there.

I won't bore you with the details. Sufficient to say I stayed his hand from killing Naruto and Hinata's little girl and tortured the crap out of him (seriously he shat himself half way through the session) before he gave me some names and I lowered the completion of assassins everywhere.

I made it home at 3 in the morning, tired but refreshed. No one in the Hokage's household knew that there had been a Nara there last night. The only possible evidence that I was there was the target; and she was safe and alive.

A/N: Kind of morbid tradition isn't it? A dark take on why Shikamaru always takes naps.


End file.
